Year Four

It has been another exciting fortnight in Grade 4! Students were thrilled to take part in the Father’s Day Stall and browse and purchase items from the wonderful selection at the Book Fair.

Reading

In Reading, we have continued our author study of Jeannie Baker, focusing on her book Belonging, a companion to Window. Like Window, this is a wordless picture book that tells its story through stunning collage illustrations. Students explored how the book shows an alienating city street gradually transforming into a welcoming, green neighbourhood through the window of the main character, Tracy. They enjoyed making connections between the two texts and noticing how both stories complement each other. As part of their discussions, students also explored the themes of Belonging and made thoughtful links to our inquiry central idea: Demands of Growing Communities Drive Urban Planning.

Alongside this, students have continued working on their Book Club texts, practising how to summarise chapters and stories in their own words and share their ideas with their peers.

Writing

Students have been developing their skills in using figurative language. They explored different types such as similes, idioms, and hyperboles, and created their own illustrated examples. They also searched for figurative language in their independent reading. To deepen their understanding, students studied the mentor texts Stellaluna and Crickwing by Janelle Cannon. They examined the author’s craft by identifying figurative language, noticing powerful verbs like clambered and plummeted, and analysing the beginnings and endings of these narratives. Building on thesestrategies, students have been working on writing their own 'show, don’t tell' paragraphs to make their writing more vivid and engaging

Numeracy

In Numeracy, students have been strengthening their understanding of multiplication through the area model and solving a range of worded problems. They have used MAB blocks and other strategies to work out solutions and explain their thinking.

We have also begun exploring the concept of division and how it connects to real-life situations. Students discovered that multiplication and division are inverse operations and investigated fact families to see how their multiplication knowledge can support them in recalling division facts.

Inquiry

Wow! What incredible builders and visionaries we have in Year 4! The students collaborated together to create their community designs as a collective town, utilising recycled materials and their knowledge and skills in mathematics and construction to bring their visions to life. From essential community needs like roads, hospitals, schools, green spaces, shops and housing, to linking to previous inquiries and included solar panels and wind farms to have a more sustainable and efficient community. It was exciting to see the buzz in each classroom during construction and how well students managed their time and built on their communication skills while working with their peers. The students are very proud of their collaboration, so please enjoy some photos of their efforts.